'Eclipse sickness' is causing 'weird' feelings, headaches and insomnia, social media users claim – The Mirror
Social media users have reported feeling ‘physically sick’ ahead of Monday’s solar eclipse in the US and believe the rare phenomenon is to blame for their strange symptoms
Parts of the United States will be plunged into darkness on Monday as a solar eclipse blocks out the Sun and some social media users have reported "weird feelings" they believe could be down to so-called "eclipse sickness" from the upcoming celestial event.
The rare phenomenon happens when the Moon lines up between the Earth and the Sun blocking out the light for a few moments and it's expected that tens of millions of people will be covered by the area of complete totality, with many others experiencing the eclipse in some shape or form.
While the eclipse is only expected to last a few minutes, some people are already reporting feeling strange about the unusual event.
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Humans have been watching total eclipses since the dawn of written history and while they used to be viewed with much suspicion, in modern times for the most part it is seen as something to be marvelled at instead of feared. However, there are still some people who view the eclipse with unease and users have been taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, to describe some strange symptoms.
One person said: "Been feeling physically sick for a few days now and I feel like it’s because of the Mercury retrograde and the upcoming solar eclipse. Does anyone else feel off/sick these days?" while another said: "Any of u also experiencing headache bc of the solar eclipse??"
One user said they had been feeling "wiped out", writing: "A lot of people talking about the Total Solar Eclipse and Full moon… but us anyone else actually FEELING it?… This just has me wiped out feeling weird ". Another claimed it had thrown her menstrual cycle off and their period was now "synced" with the eclipse.
Other social media users revealed they've been battling insomnia too, one user said: "Anyone else suffering from weird insomnia, no appetite and other weird s**t that can’t be explained? Someone told me the eclipse might have something to do with it but I don’t get how."
While some people are certainly feeling off about the upcoming eclipse, NASA has previously dispelled the misconception that the phenomenon has an impact on human health. In a post ahead of the last solar eclipse visible in the US, which happened back in 2017, the space agency said: "There is no physical relationship between a total solar eclipse and your health, any more than there is a relationship between your health and a new moon.
"Among a random sample of people, you may find such correlations from time to time but they are outnumbered by all the other occasions during which your health was excellent."
When it comes to animals, however, a total eclipse can cause some strange behaviour. Pet owners may notice their animals acting differently as animal behaviour is controlled by an internal biological clock optimised by light. This controls when nocturnal animals sleep and rise so the diming of light during the eclipse this could throw off some pet's sleeping patterns affecting their hormones.
The eclipse is also set to result in some weird sights too, ranging from strange light effects to a "horned devil" appearing.
Skywatching columnist Joe Rao told space.com how some planets usually invisible to the human eye will be able to be seen during the eclipse. He said that Venus could appear around 15 degrees to the west of the Sun, and Jupiter, 30 degrees east of the star. Other planets that may be visible are Saturn and Mars.
Perhaps the most striking visual effect will be a trick of the light which makes it appear that a devil horn could be protruding from the Sun. It will in fact be a comet which has a strange "horned aura". The comet will be closest to the Sun in a few week's time but will still be fairly nearby during the eclipse.
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